Enforce the laws we already have

Published April 18, 2013 at 3:41 pm

Dear Editor:

I’m nearly 63-years old. I was born in this great state and except for a few years in Colorado, have lived here my entire life. I have owned property, paid taxes, raised a family and volunteered in my community. I have never been arrested or charged with a crime of any sort.

I have owned guns my entire life and have used them for hunting, in competition and for simple recreational shooting and enjoyment. I, along with millions of other law abiding, American gun owners have used and cared for our firearms in a safe and responsible manner and yet we are constantly vilified and blamed for the actions of criminals and a few mentally unstable individuals who misuse these ‘tools’ as Mr. Vaselaar describes them. His statement is that they are designed to cause damage and are deadly.

I would have to agree, otherwise our ancestors would not have been able to use these tools to hunt deer, wild turkeys and waterfowl to feed their families. Or have we forgotten that meat didn’t always come packaged in styrofoam and plastic? Mr. Vaselaar argues that guns should be registered as our vehicles are registered. I would hope that everyone realizes that the only reason our cars and trucks are registered is so that our government can reap huge amounts of taxes from those registrations and that registering those vehicles does absolutely nothing to stop drivers from reckless behavior or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Drunk drivers kill far more people in this country than do all the legally owned firearms and yet no one is suggesting that we ban automobiles. Mr. Vaselaar goes on to talk about the constitution and the second amendment. I would disagree with his notion that our nations constitution is a living document , open to the interpretations of any group of politicians to do with as they please. Our constitution speaks of an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It explains that these rights were given to us by our Creator and not just allowed by whatever government happens to be in power at the time. The Bill of Rights was added later to innumerate those specific rights. I do not recognize any persons or any government’s authority to deprive me of any of those inalienable rights. Our current government has become so bloated and overbearing that nearly any hint of the freedoms that our forefathers intended has been all but snuffed out and forgotten.

A number of people in this country seem to think that by constantly legislating new and tougher laws for any number of issues, that somehow these laws will stop crime. If that was the case, we wouldn’t have any crime because we certainly have enough laws already. A law is just a bunch of words on a piece of paper. The only people who are affected by a law are the ones who are already abiding by its principles. I wish everyone would face the fact that criminals don’t care about your laws. They never have and never will. This is where I will finally have to agree with something that Mr. Vaselaar said in his article. The answer does come down to simple things. Enforce the laws that we already have, put the criminals behind bars with strict ‘mandatory’ sentences and leave law abiding gun owners in peace.